The Truth beyond the Veil
by Irith Ayllistira
Summary: Scientists discovered that Sephiroth's body was assaulted by a terminal disease and slowly degrading. Can the general find the truth about his life and be for once proud of his acts before he succumbs to his illness?
1. Reawakening of Strife and Dissension

Contains Crisis Core's characters, locations and Loveless Quotes but no major spoilers.

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The Truth Beyond the Veil

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Chapter 1 - Reawakening of Strife and Dissension

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"_Men thought they were immortal until the very immortals appeared on the surface."_

His bare feet stepped effortlessly from stone to stone, as his eyes looked down to the world below, narrowed in a profound green light that emanated from every corner of the world he was merged in. There, upon the clouds, we was transcending above a thin line that divided death from life. He felt every vibration caused by humans back on Earth. Those vibrations were the source of the production of a mass energy which was used by a famous company to converge its substances to the triggers of electric power. The mass energy, afterwards named Mako Energy, quickly faded for the reason that it was being overused to provide humanity with comfort and easier lives.

Many scientists researched that energy in order to find solutions to recreate trying to use the original components to produce more of that substance, in a way that it would never scarce or wound the planet by the lack of it. A small group of those scientists indicated that the Mako Energy was, unlike many other had concluded, an extinguishable source of energy and it couldn't be recreated by any means, as the way that those substances were provided by the vibrations of particles produced by human aura.

These scientists were banned by the electric power company, as they were making the people of Midgar leave the city, thinking that they could live in the countryside without wasting the Planet's life and end the resource of energy. It was then communicated by the Science Department that Mako Energy could, indeed, be recreated and that the civilians could live again in the suburbs of the city, as the power company ensured to provide them with endless electricity and comfort.

Sephiroth was travelling on the Lifestream itself. He could sense all the vibrations, the particles produced by human aura. He fanatically believed on those scientists theories, because he could verify those theories by his own experience. He had an exquisite blood running through his veins. It provided him great strength, a power that few humans could afford without physically and mentally breaking apart. For that, Sephiroth was very different from his companions.

He continued to wander in the Lifestream. In that distant realm, his mind was allowed to fly through many ages, to search through limitless information that built up since the first days on earth. He let his body move as he drew close to an entrance of a light and a possible confrontation with the outside world. The others would be most thrilled when he woke back. He had been wandering in the Lifestream realms for an amount of time he could not measure, and for that, the awareness of his delay struck in his mind.

He did not care to dodge the bright light that separated that realm with the one he lived in. Like a silent shadow, he infiltrated in the light, being surrounded and blinded by it.

The movement of the soft, green waves that invaded the Lifestream disappeared and when his eyes opened up again he thought absently that everything in that laboratory looked solid and flat, compared to the soft reality that marked the Lifestream's nature.

He was laying in a cold, flat, iron table. His wrists, as well as his ankles were tied with leather straps and his waist was strongly bond to the table by a resistant leather belt. His vision was still sharp, and he could inspect his surroundings just by moving his head. The Laboratory was illuminated only by a small light that barely enclosed a small part of the room. There was machinery in the walls and various monitors that curiously reflected a range of pictures of him in different angles, lying on the table. At the corner of the room, a collected man studied a piece of paper, glasses on the tip of his nose. The man's eyes subtly crossed Sephiroth's and then a small smile tugged at his lips.

"You are awake, general Sephiroth." He uttered "Did you have a safe return from your slumber?"

The man's upper lip twitched "Let me out of here, Hojo."

"Your antipathy for me remains intact so I imagine that your mind maintains its properties, which is actually is a very good signal for someone who has been gone for almost four days. Your fellow companions were worried, too. They say you never made such long 'Transaction' between realms."

"I am fine" the general stated "Just let me go back to my duties."

The scientist raised a hand. "Wait a second. Firstly, let me read your status. I was able to process the information of your body's vibrations as you transcended on the Lifestream. In basis of the movement of your muscles and nerves, I was able to elaborate a report with your power and strength status." Hojo scratched his head as he went back to his wide desk, in search of the report. He then brought an amount of paper.

"Be quick about it" demanded Sephiroth quietly.

The scientist coughed "Well, Sephiroth, I must say that I was very impressed when I finished the reports. It seems that your Mako energy is decreasing incredibly fast. Last week I thought it was just a break on your metabolism, but the results maintain, even after the weekend's Mako infusion. It means that your body found a way to combat the Mako energy that we regularly infuse you with. Very curious, indeed, very curious."

Sephiroth didn't bother to ask what that meant. He just raised an eyebrow and looked at the scientist. Under that piercing gaze, Hojo just laughed and turned back, walking back to his desk full of paperwork.

"Do you know why is your body battling the Mako energy, general Sephiroth?"

"I would find no way to know such a thing." Sephiroth did not know, indeed. He had been truly thoughtless to let his mind wander for so long on the Lifestream. He believed that mind reacted with body, and affected the physical part of the world, but he never knew that transcending to another plain of existence could reject the materia that actually _composed_ his physique.

Sephiroth bit his lip until he tasted blood. He had been receiving Mako infusion since he was a child. On the contrary of other SOLDIER members, his human cells had been changes several times to human cells filled with Mako energy, which after a couple of times exchanged his metabolism. Since ever he had been dealing with that mass energy and another poisonous substances that his body was able to handle, contrary to other regular human beings. His strength was being fed by that energy and now his body was able to dispose of that power, little by little, repudiating it and defunding it into the atmosphere.

Hojo unstrapped the man and handled him his black jacket. Sephiroth quickly put it on, and left the room without any commentary.

"Sephiroth!" called Genesis as the tall man appeared on the corridor, a hostile look drawn on his face. "I thought you'd never wake up again, my friend."

The general stopped in front of his friend. Genesis held a slight frown on his sculptured features and his lip was twitched in a dramatic way. In his right hand, parallel to his body, he hold a thin copy of the Loveless writing masterpiece, marked in a page somewhere in the middle. Sephiroth groggily shook his head in disbelief. "Something is wrong with my body. It no longer is able to contain Mako energy. It's battling its components and making them disappear."

"But my friend, you always had Mako in your blood and your body never refused it. Your organism wanted for more and more, like a man who couldn't kill its thirst. How is it possible that your body is combating the energy?"

"I don't know. But my long absence in the Lifestream is somehow involved with this process. Inside the realm I could no longer feel a sense of time or the location of my material body. I felt a strong presence, so powerful and ancient I couldn't even establish a connection with it. It tied me to the Lifestream until my physical-self could bare my delay no longer."

"What did Hojo say?"

Sephiroth's eyes glared in anger "That bastard acted as it was normal. He said it was curious, the little man, looking at me as a rare specimen."

"But is your condition well enough to survive without the Mako energy, Sephiroth?" Genesis asked, slightly worried "Is your body is risk of degrading because of the great loss of energy? The infusions and alterations in your system were so many that I wouldn't be surprised if your organism was actually addicted to that energy."

"I have no way to know." He answered "I feel no signs of degrading."

Genesis looked at the ground and raised the small book of Loveless. His gaze landed on some words below the title 'Act III'. "What are they doing to us, Sephiroth? Using us as weapons to the purpose of bringing false justice to a world blinded by money and overrated power. They have the very power of the planet at their disposal and are using it in a corrupt way. Are we sightless, my friend, to be unable to make our own decisions in relation to this crisis?"

"I am not able to chose between righteousness or a path of darkness, Genesis. I cannot deny my own roots in this damned company. If I do, I'd be lost forever. However you, my friend, should be willing to choose between what's right or wrong."

Genesis closed his eyes and smiled.

"My friend, do you _fly_ now?To a world that abhors _you and I_? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, _no matter where the winds may blow_."

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The Midgar slums were even colder than the flat surface of the iron table he had been lying on. He had been repulsed by the poverty that covered those streets, since he had grew up in the middle of opulence and extravagance, but as he walked on those dark and poor roads, he was even more repulsed with his own loathing. They barely had to eat, and even rarer was to have a roof to cover their heads. Young boys were being raised to join the Shin-Ra's infantrymen and young girls were not safe in those streets. Young teenager girls patrolled the streets with babies cradled in their arms, their eyes full of suffering and the bitter taste of loneliness.

The way they tried to keep joy was absolutely heartbreaking. Children made-up every kind of diversions they could, willing to pass through everything to have a better time in their short lives. The panorama of that low society was so pitiful that Sephiroth had to prevent himself to cover his eyes to such misery.

He walked down a street, hid in the shadows provoked by the plate, silently watching the people that remained in the streets doing their late night business. There were prostitutes in the street, too, wandering from alley to alley, stranger to stranger, offering their services in exchange of a good portion of money. It was tragic that a good amount of them that were still young girls, just wanting to feed their poor and old families.

"_Why am I with them?"_ Sephiroth asked himself as his sharp eyes analyzed the awful panorama. He did not know what was keeping him bond with those persons. Had he lost his consciousness? How could he be fighting side by side with people that were throwing the planet's life away, as well as the lives of thousands of people that lived forever under the dark?

_My friend, do you fly now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow. _He was flying away. Protecting the operatives of a corrupted city, not caring about the lives of the ones that were constantly victimized by the sovereignty of Shin-Ra. Sephiroth thought he had been protecting the world all along, but he wasn't a hero anymore.

His eyes briefly flickered over a silhouette crouched behind a trash can. It was a feminine figure, wearing a blue and white dress. She had her knees under her chin and her arms protecting her head. Noticing the shaking nude shoulders, Sephiroth knew immediately the girl was crying.

Flinching inside, he crawled to her, letting his unreceptive shadow cover the young girl's frame. As she raised her head to meet his eyes, every inch of her body trembled, as she forced herself to get up and to compose her dress and hair.

"I am not here to self myself" she said, wiping the tears with her hand. "You can go, now."

"And I am not here to _buy_" he stated, obviously feeling awkward because of the situation. "Did anyone hurt you? Do you want me to call the authorities?"

She shook her head. The sorrow in her eyes made his heart thaw. Why was that young girl doing in a somber place like that one? Why wasn't she allowed to have a better life? Her clothes were worn and dirty from being in the streets, stained with grease and mud, her hair messy around her beautiful well-framed face. Her eyes were suspicious and intriguing to him. The emerald color they wore equaled to the shine of many eyes infused with Mako energy. However, that girl was no corrupt.

"Why are you crying, then?"

The girl raised her chin in false determination. "I distrust you and your intentions." She said, shaking "So I have no obligation to share with any information or truth. I am not naïve enough to fall in the arms of a stranger."

The girl was no fool, either, he thought amused. To keep such calm and pacifism, even if with her heart chained in grief.

Her pride, however, broke, and the tears started to stream down her face again. Sephiroth made no intention to calm her down or control the tears, as he just stood there, pale and placid as she cried.

"My mother died" she stated "With an awful disease. She was everything to me. She cared of me, she was kind and gentle and treated me like I was a porcelain doll. It's so unfair that death only stabs persons who do not deserve it."

"I am dying too" Sephiroth declared "It's being a quiet and painless process, but I know that one night I will lie down on my bed, and I will never wake up again. However, on contrary of your mother, I never did something I was proud about in my life. I do not have to shout angry cries of rage at the Goddess for not giving me the opportunity to redeem myself for my sins and to repay the blood stained in my hands."

"You're dying?" she quietly questioned "From disease?"

Sephiroth's eyes focused somewhere on the ground. "My body is refusing what's keeping me alive. It's no disease, it's actually a natural process of my body. I can do nothing to fight it back: just wait for the process to complete and bring me to the Goddess."

Suddenly, every signs of apprehension the girl had been showing were erased and a shrill light mirrored in her eyes. "It's the Mako energy, isn't it? It's ruining everybody's life. The planet is slowly dying on Shin-Ra's hands but nobody cares. Men that join the infantry are infused with the energy and receive a special surgery that amends their body to the tasks they will be assigned for. The most powerful soldiers become addicted to that energy and their bodies turn dependable on doses of it, like if it was drug, used to make them more powerful."

"How do you know that?" Sephiroth asked, his eyes widening at the wisdom of the young girl. After all she was _sixteen?, seventeen? _,and as a civilian of Midgar and a resident in the slums, shouldn't be able to interact with the internal issues of the company.

"The Turks bring me to the Shin-Ra Headquarters all the time. I spent most of my time in laboratories and making exams to my cells and blood. The Shin-Ra Science Department is already a part of my being and the rumors I hear in the hallways are enough to know a bit of everything about this energy people are being infused with."

Sephiroth was even more overwhelmed. A girl, being brought by the Turks to the headquarters in order to make blood tests and exams to her cells? What kind of power did that green-eyed girl hold inside her flimsy body?

"Why are you being exposed to those tests?"

The innocence returned to her sweet features. "The scientists say I am the last one of my race. An ancient, they say. I deny the facts and they don't say anything to me after they receive the exams. I go and I leave and I have no clue why am I there for. They don't tell me anything."

An Ancient. Sweet Goddess, Hojo believed that the young girl was the last Cetra, the last remnant of a powerful and extinct race, which ruled the planet for so many years. How could a girl so small in shape and so fragile and innocent carry such burden on her shoulders? Wasn't the poverty she was submitted to enough that she was also had to be a scientific miracle to humanity research? How confused could that little creature be, alone in the world, orphan and poor, victimized by the scientists of that maniac company?

The girl pouted her lips and a cold emptiness robbed the sparkle of her eyes. "Do you know what's the problem of the Shin-Ra company? It's the same for the Men. Men thought they were immortal until the very immortals appeared on the surface. When the planet gains revenge on the evilness of this people, the Shin-Ra company will finally acknowledge mortality and the true feeling of inferiority. Until then, every one of us will have to wait until justice is made."

Life was brought back to her small body.

Sephiroth thought absently that the girl as indeed a miracle of science, as well as a miracle of humanity. She held such power and humanity that she was deserved to be called the true daughter of the merciful Goddess.


	2. Shattered Bitterness and Acrimony

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The Truth beyond the Veil

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Chapter 2 – Shattered Bitterness and Acrimony

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"_An illusion of the world is created by others. But the one to blame is yourself because you accept that illusion as your reality."_

Sephiroth opened his eyes again, facing the monochromatic color of the laboratory's ceiling. This time he hadn't let his mind wander in the vast corners of the Lifestream. Keeping his thoughts and musings reunited, he controlled his own mind from slipping to a silent world where darkness was under his fingers and light shone above his head. However, the choice of controlling his impulses ended in being overwhelmed by the enormous panic and nervousness that room always brought him. As he looked around, raising his neck from the steel table, a sparkle of hope formed in his mind. Maybe the room had lost its evilness. However, as he searched his surroundings, he was able to denote with a bit of disappointment that the laboratory looked exactly as it ever looked.

Shadows were projected on the room's walls, creating phantasmagoric illusions of another living beings. Many computers 'beeped' as his images on the monitors were revolved in various angles, transferring video files from one to other. He silently waited as Hojo turned to him, a smile dandling his lips.

"General Sephiroth, I have your blood tests results. I will now read them to you: Balanced amount of sugar and cholesterol, _checked._ Number of thrombocytes, erythrocytes and leukocytes is stable. Hormones are good too…Hmm, yes, yes, everything's fine. Tumor markers read negative, too. Now, _about your mako energy balance…"_

The general almost rolled his eyes in disgust of the anticipation the scientist was trying to mark on him. He fixed him right in the eyes, the jades revolving with pure anger and a slight feeling of the agony that had been torturing him since he found out the auto-immune disease. At least this time he wasn't tied up to the table like the session before, so he was more able to control his rising anger about the situation.

"Well, it says that your mako cells are decreasing, as we predicted, Sephiroth. As you can wait, I have talked to the Shin-Ra's Science Department about your strange situation and many researches about the subject are being conducted by the most capable men on the business. Naturally, I am conducting my _own_ study on the subject, although I prefer to do it alone in my laboratory. Yes, Sephiroth, your disease is most curious, yes it is."

Sephiroth collected his thoughts before addressing him.

"You can research all you want since it doesn't interfere in my job. If it does interfere in any way, and if I have to constantly do blood tests I must refuse that help."

Hojo smirked. "You don't have to worry about blood exams. There are many ways to copy your blood into equivalent samples and pass them to other scientists. But I needed too many time to provide more details on the subject so I am going to close the chit-chat here."

Sephiroth frowned as he got up, tugging out the wires attached to his body. A couple of monitors got off, presenting black images on the screen with consecutive 'beeps', trying to re-catch the connection with the human body. He stood high before the much skinner and smaller scientist. Hojo didn't even blink as the general's figure projected an enormous shadow behind his own figure. Sephiroth's lip twisted. The question had been in his tongue for too long, and for too long he had been avoiding spitting it out. Just the thought of letting that reality escape his fields of thought was unimaginable.

"I am going to die, aren't I?"

Hojo perched his glasses on the tip of his nose. "That's an answer I cannot provide you with, Sephiroth. As I was saying, many researches about your disease are being conducted. Until we've reached a conclusion it's impossible to-"

"Have I a chance of 30%? 20%? 1%?"

Hojo shook his head. "You have 15% of chances to live without the mako cells in your body. Since you were born your body has been fed with too much mako energy. You physiological needs, as well as your abilities and reasoning have always been influenced by the great percentage of that energy. Without the mako, we're unable to determine how your organism will react to the lack of it."

Sephiroth wrinkled his brow and glanced at Hojo. His lips parted but no sound came. After a moment he stopped of trying to react to the sentence and simply left the room, leaving the ghost of his steps on the way.

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Sephiroth wasn't counting the time. Since he arrived to the place, his didn't let his body move, regulating his breathing. If the flower girl spotted him, his daily routine would crash in a single fraction o time.

When he exited the laboratory the first thing he did was leaving the Shin-Ra's headquarters and go to the poor part of Midgar – the slums. Hiding himself in the shadows provoked by the trash that had fell from the plate, he irrationally drew his way to the Sector 6, being attracted by the specific darkness that surrounded that area. Since he found out his body was battling the mako energy, the urge to watch people live in poverty and sorrow was almost a need for him.

He was also interested in the slums because of his last encounter. The flower girl, the last ancient, as she called herself, had brought great interest for Sephiroth. He had found her usual escape to the poor world she lived on: the church. This building was large, and bright, although it was covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt. A sacred aura circled it, sending away any ghost that might enter the holy place. He watched the young woman silently. The flower girl left her house near the market every morning with a bag of gardening tools and a paper bag with her lunch. She walked to the church, taking the longest route, which made her encounter with various persons she seemed to know. Then she would stop at her church, making way to her flowers. She treated them with infinite care, danced and sang in the pavement of the church as if she saw it like a ballroom. Sephiroth always watched her from the doorframe, hidden in the darkness that it provided him, hiding his silhouette from the girl's inquisitive eyes. Just the vision of peace the girl brought to the world sent waves of energy, crashing all the way through his skull. The casual sight of the was remarkably comforting, bringing back some peace to his already tormented heart.

In the middle of the church was a gap in the ground. The planks of wood that covered it were destroyed, revealing a colorful blanket of white and yellow flowers that surely conveyed some color to his habitual grey-scaled panorama. The first time Sephiroth saw the miracle of the flowers, his mouth opened up in surprise. He didn't left the doorframe, he never did. He was always able to watch the girl for continuous time, caring about her flowers, singing to them a light melody that she believed that helped the flowers to resist to the inhospitable weather. _Well, maybe the song really works,_ he thought amusedly_, she must know. After all, these are the only living flowers I have ever seen in Midgar._

He knew the girl was powerful. He sensed it, within every vibration of her body, as if it was part of his own. He sensed naivety, but _power. _An indescribable amount of power, a disproportionate level of energy that threatened to crush the young girl's body. He often wondered if the girl faced that power as a curse or as a blessing. Being that alone in the world, no living being to comprehend her thoughts and musings, no human to sense her feelings or her perception of reality.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and made his mind left his physical body. He then slowly extended a finger of his mind to hers. He could feel the thick barrier that protected her thoughts. Maybe some wall she had been building throughout the years against Shin-Ra's mental and physical exploration. The finger touched the barrier, almost ironically greeting through another plane of existence. The reception wasn't warm as he predicted from the sweet young woman. It was almost violent, knocking down his own defenses.

The general felt the taste of a headache. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips. After all, the girl was not so innocent. She was prepared to defend her mind even if her physical body was abused.

_Who are you?_, the woman's voice asked, hesitantly reaching to him.

_I am one who was blinded by an illusion. Nor a friend nor an enemy: just another shadow in this plane that encloses both of us. _

…_I know who you are. You are the sick man. The one that was dying. _

Sephiroth smiled to the statement. He offered the hand of his mind to The flower girl. The girl, however, refused it in sublime subtlety.

_Why are you reaching me from the Lifestream? If you aren't dead, why don't you act with your physical being? _She asked quietly.

_Because I feel safer here. And I know you feel too. Because in this plane, in this world, humans aren't blinded by illusion or lies. It's possible for them to make their own choices and act on their own, obeying to no one. _

Despite everything, Sephiroth was being truly sincere. That was the true reason why he so often visited the Lifestream. It was a place where Shin-Ra dropped the mastery on him, a place where his soul was free to wander between realms of questions and answers, between universal truth and particular lies. Such a place was miraculous to someone who had been a puppet his entire life for a man with such power as the president. Even if famous and entitled of hero, Sephiroth was a mere tool in the plans of wealthy men who could not possess his strength or agility.

The young woman touched him slightly with her mind.

_An illusion of the world is created by others. But the one to blame is yourself because you accept that illusion as your reality._

_As a burden carried throughout the ages, an illusion gives much hope to those who cannot rely on something physical. It is indeed an escape to those who carry future and past on their hands. _

The young woman backed away softly. She broke contact completely and knocked him off. Reality hit Sephiroth between the eyes as he returned to his body and fell backwards, losing balance.

The girl turned to him, leaving her flowers in their bed of colors.

"I cannot bear your power" she said, frowning "_Who_ are you? Why are you here? Why have you been following me all this time, watching me from the door?"

_So she noticed, _he thought.

"You are the last Cetra. You bear the wisdom and power that I have been looking for all these years. With a death sentence on my shoulders, I am seeking, at once, for liberation. You have a power that equals mine in magnitude, although yours is much more subtle than mine. I found you interesting, amusing. I wanted to understand you, to feel what you feel, because you are indeed a curious person."

The flower girl hesitated at the statement. Her resolve was much clearer than the detailed explanation Sephiroth provided her. "Have you been stalking me?"

He almost smiled at her questioning look. "No I haven't. I have been watching you. Because you're interesting." Sephiroth saw the girl swallow nervously. She was indeed fascinating, an attractive living being he was eager to meet. As if he saw some hope in that verdict they Hojo set upon him. The girl's eyes brought him so much hope, so much amazing grace and mesmerizing charm. It was a mystery, the reasons that brought him to her. Maybe it was a calling; probably the Goddess brought him to her to enforce him with a final lesson, somewhere kept within the young woman's experienced heart.

Her features softened beneath his sharp look.

"What do you see in me? The escape to your death?"

Sephiroth smiled and shook his head. He entered more deeply into the church, receiving the sun rays that erupted from a couple of cracks in the stone ceiling. "Maybe it's not an escape, but a comprehension of what I am now. I have been walking twenty five years on this cursed land and I don't find a reason for my behavior. I have been a puppet for others wealthier than me and with that justification of my existence I have been living. Now that the countdown began I want to make sure I will go to the Lifestream with my heart in peace."

The young girl clenched her fists on her lap. Her eyes fell suddenly to the floor.

"Many of us die without knowing the true purpose for living. World has always been like that. The Planet told me so."

_She is as wise as I thought she was. The Planet speaks to her, and she listens, as the Cetra were portrayed. _

"Mum died without ever finding her true love." The girl informed, a tear gracing her eye. "She has been looking for her husband since he got out of war, and even when they reported his death she was unable to believe it."

"Disease took your mother from you. So the disease is taking me from the world. And I cannot bear to perish without knowing some things."

The flower girl's eyes darkened sharply. Her hair fell to her face, obscuring her hardened features. "But how can you look for light if you heart is surrounded by the purest of darkness'?"

Sephiroth frowned, wrinkling his brow. When he looked at the girl's face again, the shine was brought back to her skin. He wandered vaguely, what form of existence took the shape of her body and robbed her words. If having such power meant she had to be manipulated, why then, to have such power? Was it worth it?

But he could not complete his thoughts as someone appeared on the door. The man advanced to both Sephiroth and girl, his hand grabbing a gun knotted to his belt.

"Tseng" Sephiroth denoted surprised, as the man appeared under the sunlight.

"Sephiroth, sir. Aerith." Tseng greeted, looking barely at the flower girl, which slowly backed in the direction of her flowers.

Sephiroth bit his tongue sharply to avoid any insult from escaping his throat. The young girl would now run away from him, knowing who he was.

He ignored the look of shock written on her expression as the fellow Turk announced his identity. She backed from both and Sephiroth sensed her mind shutting tightly to any advance that they might cause on her. Sadly, the general could not comprehend if that isolation was due to the Turk or to himself, who now could represent a major source of danger. After all, his reputation he built had this goal: for everyone to respect and fear him. He never had been so regretful about his military work as he was now.

"Let's go to the laboratories Aerith. Hojo wants to make some tests with you." Tseng said with monotone voice. "Hurry up, it won't take too long. I am sure you are already used to your monthly cells and blood exams."

"I won't go this time." Aerith said, backing away and gripping her hands, digging her nails on the palms. "I am tired of it. I won't go. That place scares me. I won't go."

Tseng sighed. "But you are a Cetra, Aerith. Since you are 10 years old I have been looking for you and telling you to go make your exams. If you refuse now, a lot of consecutive work will be destroyed and the circle will begin all over again. If you attend to your sessions as you are told the conclusions will appear much more faster and you will be rid of the Science Department."

"I won't be rid of the Science Department if they find out that I am an ancient."

The Turk cocked an eyebrow "…are you?"

The girl looked down. "No. I am not."

"Then, if you are, please come with me to the Shin-Ra's headquarters. Your treatment will end very soon that way."

"I don't want to go! That place is scary! I hate it!"

Sephiroth was being put in an awkward situation. Working all his life with Shin-Ra, he was now opposing the very source of his education and work. The girl was probably just sixteen or seventeen. If the exams were concluded, what kind of treatment would Hojo expose her too? Being obvious that the girl held the power of ancients, what would he do? Keep her in a capsule to preserve the body? Bread her with humans or another animal races? Would he explore her until the marrow and absorb every little bit of power her body emanated?

"Come on, Aerith. You aren't a child anymore."

And with that the girl reluctantly stepped forward, a tear running down her cheek. Her tools had been left loosely around the flower bed and the planks of wood that covered the church's floor. She never looked back and her mind shut itself to any touch he might have shared with her. As she left the church along with the Turk, Sephiroth was left alone, standing still and pale next to a stone column, contemplating the sun rays that drew patterns on the floor. Aerith: that was her name. A remarkable name for an earth-lover. Maybe a name of an angel, an angel of salvation and liberation, that kind of living being that would bring final peace to the world.

And Sephiroth could only wait for that moment.

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Author's notes: Thank you for reading! Please review and leave a comment! ^0^


	3. Breaking from Reasoning and Realization

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The Truth beyond the Veil

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Chapter 3 – Breaking from Reasoning and Realization

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"_Their need for grief is shattering Earth to pieces. And me, as well."_

Sephiroth left the training earlier that day.

He had an appointment – or so he pretended to transform his task into an appointment.

The passage narrowed at his front, and his eyes accustomed to the lack of light. He could barely recall the last time he had been in the most macabre part of the laboratory. He surely did everything to avoid it. The reddish floor paths and the echoes resounding at the steel walls…every single trait of that lab reminded him of the most gruesome things, things that he preferred to forget and to keep out of his mind.

That was a place he avoided at all cost – the place where a dozen of scientists and other science studiers and scholars made the most awful and unforgettable experiences to his mind and body. He could not recall the lines of their faces, the color of their eyes or hair, or the titles of the dusty volumes they held in hand while surveying him. But the treatments they applied to his body…those he reminded with vivid detail. He remembered the strips of leather that bond his wrists; the medical tubes that gripped his body to heavy computing machines that biped at every heart beat that resounded within his chest. The murmurs and whispers as every report was printed and read. More analyses were made, injections, reports, analyses, injections and more reports. More whispers, more pain in his muscles, bones and head. More grief…less hope.

He woke up every morning feeling changes in his body. Strange living organisms crawled under his skin, travelling through his veins, itching, biting, scratching his inwards, until his body was withered by the pain he suffered. Some nights he felt his skin covered in sweat, his muscles tense, his bones strangely stiff.

No…it was illusion to say he had a normal growth. Confined to the laboratory's chambers, he actually never met a boy or a girl that shared their worries and experiences of day-to-day. He lived as an adult. Emphasizing better his feelings, he has lived as an adult specimen. He did was he was told, he moved when they ordered him to move, he talked when they ordered him to talk. Sephiroth had been exposed to all kind of bad treatments, lies, errors, mistakes and omissions. He had grown under a rock, and when he finally got to move it from above his head, the sky fell on top of him.

The scientists infused him with mako to turn him into a powerful human being. He didn't ever ask why they putted him in such special treatment. The truth was that he never knew where he was from. He felt as if he were born from the walls, ceiling and floor of the laboratory. No resemblances, no marks, no past to hold on. Sephiroth had been sent to the Earth to follow men, and to obey them, and no parent was able to stop the abuses they inflicted on him.

Those were the thoughts that came to his mind as he walked by the many craters and lab supplies that officers had deposited in the laboratory. He could see every kind of macabre content: hands and fingers of diverse monsters, blood and urine samples, brains and organs conserved in oil inside jars of glass. Mucus was spread in the floor, leaving an odd smell.

And there she was, leaning to a wall, her small figure enclosed in a cloud of pain that even the bravest of her looks could not hid.

Sephiroth had left the training for her. Someone told Genesis the girl had been left in the under part of the experimenting laboratory, and his red-haired friend, knowing that Sephiroth held a special fascination for the brunette, ran to him informing him about the causalities.

"Aerith" the general said, running to her coiled figure. He raised a hand to her shoulder, trying to comfort the girl.

She groaned and retracted from his touch. A violent look emerged from the core of her eyes.

He kneeled. "What have they done to you?"

A shiver shook her body. Sephiroth heard a sob. Her hands held a firm grasp on the front part of her dress. The man gently took her hands away, ignoring the girl's protests.

"You're bleeding" he stated, feeling a lump in his throat. How could they have done that to her? How could they abuse her body to such futile and meaningless causes? It drove him crazy the way Shin-Ra exposes men and women to that point.

"Let's go" he ordered, trying to get her up. The wound was deeper than he thought, though. As soon as she was up, trickles of blood ran down her legs. The pain made her tremble in his arms. Or maybe it was the repulse she was feeling from men in the moment. Either way, he would not let her bleed to death, so he firmly grasped her shoulders and lead her through the corridors and hallways of the building.

Shin-Ra's headquarters looked like a desert, because of the Wutai interventions. The silence and the absence of people made a lot easier to move and to find a good spot to hide the girl. He led her to the elevator, to bring her to the SOLDIER's floor. After a lot of thought, he decided to leave her in his own private quarters. After all, it was a place where people never entered, and it was surely the safest place to hide an experiment like her.

He was fond about the girl indeed. But fonder he was about the traits that they shared. The fact that they could wander in the Lifestream, feel the soul of the humans and of the nature, united them in an unbreakable bond.

He opened the door to his quarters. The automatic dim light flashed when both of them stepped into the humid room. Sephiroth's eyes started to inspect the room in order to find a nice spot where the girl could rest. He had no idea how much time she had been trembling in that corner, bleeding and suffering from the wound. After all, it was four days ago that Tseng led her into the laboratory. It was almost impossible to calculate the amount of time that the scientists took to make the experiments on her.

Sephiroth's hand touched her arm. She jumped, alarmed.

He had no idea how to talk to a girl who had probably suffered rape. He didn't know how to react, how to act, what to say to her. And he was _awfully_ alone in the building. Secretaries and scientists had gone home to take on vacations, since the company's army had gone to Wutai. Hojo was probably the only man residing in his work room, manipulating his experiments like a mad man. When Lazard told him the battle on Wutai had reawaken, Sephiroth refused to go. He was _tired_ of blood, of rage, of death. Tired to lead young men into war and witness their departures when a bullet hit their skull. And what reputation did he have to maintain now? The reputation of a lonely soldier, who was dying from an auto-immune disease, consuming his energy and his patience for human kind? No, he had long left Shin-Ra's game. He wouldn't fight for his honor until the end, as Angeal used to say.

No, he probably wouldn't die with a sword on his hand, for the sake of others. He was way more selfish than that.

"Do you want to clear yourself? To wash your wounds?" he asked. "Maybe the pain will decrease."

Her eyes rose to meet his. He saw disbelief and fear. She was scared of him. Maybe not as _Sephiroth_, but as a _man._

"I won't hurt you" he assured "I will be here, sitting right here, as you go to the bathroom. Then, you can clean yourself and I will give you something to wear instead of those clothes. I will give you something to eat if you are hungry, too. Then you can tell me what happened."

The girl nodded.

Sephiroth gave her a pair of black, light trousers and a black shirt, "Second door on the right, then."

He sat on the couch as he heard the water running in the bathroom. His mind wandered aimlessly. He asked himself why Hojo did that to Aerith. It had been him? Or was another scientist? And in what purpose, for God's sake? What scientific conclusions were they trying to take from the body of a violated young woman? He remembered the torture. The macabre ideas on the scientist head. However, he had his followers. People who were crazy enough to seek his auto-dominated wisdom and knowledge. Probably puppet's to Hojo's eyes. After all, he said he was the father of Science. Everyone else was a pawn in his game, pawns that he was able to control with the power he had over everyone who was weak enough to fall to his charismatic point of view. But Sephiroth wouldn't fall to his dark purposes. Not anymore, at least.

The sound stopped. His sharp hears heard the water dripping and the ruffle of clothes. Her steps on the bathroom's pavement, however, made no noise.

The door opened. Aerith didn't bother to braid her hair, leaving it wet and loose over her shoulders. The black shirt looked like a dress on her, and he saw the many times she twisted the sleeves in order to reach her wrists. The same she did to the pants that she wrapped to her tiny waist using the pink bow she used to braid her hair with. She had black circles drawn beneath her tired eyes and Sephiroth saw for the first times the bruises she had on her neck.

Aerith sat on the couch in front of him, lowering her eyes.

"Are you hungry?"

She shook her head in disapproval.

"How long have you been curled up in that corner?"

Aerith didn't answer.

"I will give you something to eat, then."

He didn't have much food in his apartment, though. He found a packet of cookies and some water on his bedside table and gave them to her. Aerith ignored the water and opened the cookies packet, hungrily. Two minutes later, the 24 biscuits were gone and a relieved expression was written on her face.

Sephiroth analyzed her expression. She was truly a curious human being. "Who did that to you?"

She didn't answer. He eyes lowered again and a tear shone at the corner of her eye.

"Talk. I can help you."

Aerith hesitated. But as soon as she parted her lips, the words started to flow.

"Hojo brought me to the lab. He was doing the normal routine exams, like always. Then he… said something."

Sephiroth waited. It should be hard to recall the event. It should be painful. The general tried to reach to her mind, tried to loosen up the tight grasp she had over her memories and her feelings. He was sent backwards, though. Her mind was shut down. No one but herself could access the memories.

"He said that my body was ready to do what he wanted to do."

Sephiroth felt rage emerging from within him and running through his veins until it reached his fingertips. How could Hojo do that?

"He tried to…breed me."

"…He what?"

"Hojo tried to get me _pregnant_ from another man. He…-he wanted me to crossbreed with a creature. I don't know if he was human. His eyes were different from anything I have ever seen."

Sephiroth's hand turned into a fist. How did he dare? The act was so _inhuman_ that shocked him. It shocked Sephiroth, a man who had seen everything: mutilations on the battlefield, horrors coming from within his mind, the most awful behaviors of human kind. He had seen everything but now he was horrified. The act of breed a human young girl with an animal was a pure sin! An uncivilized act!

"I don't think he wanted to." Aerith said, shaking. "I don't think he wanted to…-to rape me. Hojo forced him to. I felt it. The…-the shame and the…-the fear, in his eyes."

_Hojo submitted many men to his mastery, _Sephiroth thought, frowning.

"Was he successful?"

Aerith rolled her eyes, trying to get calm, but furious tears ran down her cheeks.

"I…-I don't know. Now only time will tell. I am so afraid-I…-I don't want to raise this child. A…-A child from a man I don't even know, a child that would be…-be exposed to the most awful experiments. I…-I don't want to. The idea is aw… need for grief is shattering Earth to pieces. And me, as well_."_

The general fixed his eyes on the girl's poor figure. That girl was too young to have a baby in her arms. She was sixteen, fifteen, he didn't know her age. But she couldn't protect a baby when she wasn't even capable of protecting herself. It would be a weight on her shoulders that would never be lifted.

"You'll stay here with me, now."

The girl lifted her head, surprised.

"What do you mean, here, with you?"

"Here, in my apartment, with me."

Finally Aerith reacted and a panicked look appeared on her face.

"No, I have to leave, I have to go home, I really, really have…"

Sephiroth grabbed her arms when she rose up, shaking from the earlier shock"

"You aren't going anywhere" he stated, forcing her to sit again. "You are still weak from the occurrence, and if you go back to your home, the Shin-Ra scientists will follow you, and force you to the lab. If you didn't get pregnant, they will bring more men to suit their goals. You aren't safe anymore at home."

"I will be a burden" the girl said, lowering her eyes.

"Yes, you will." Sephiroth agreed "You are a sixteen year old girl and I am a grown man of 24, and I have no idea what to do with you. But I can't leave you to devil's claws right now. You are one of them. You can't die under my vigilance."

"What do you mean…one of them?"

"You know, Aerith. An ancient. You can hear the planet's voice – So do I. That's why I can't leave you right now. We are alike; leaving you would be my greatest sin. Like leaving a sister behind. Or leaving a treasure, if you prefer it that way."

"I can't be closed in this apartment for my entire life. I have to face them. If…If I am pregnant, I will protect this child at all costs, no matter what. I don't need you. It would be like living in the wolf's lair."

"No one will know you are here. No one enters my apartment. You are the first one. Maids clean it, once in a while, but they never enter my room. You can hide there then. Sometimes I have to leave, but you wouldn't be exposed to any harm being here alone."

Aerith was shacking. Everything was new for the young woman.

"I don't know you. I have only seen you a couple of times! I will never feel good about myself in this somber place, enclosed like some animal!"

Sephiroth rose up and put his hand on the doorknob, unlocking the door.

"Go if you want. You are free to take your own decisions. But I am tired to be alone. Tired to be the only one who hears the voices. But go, if you think it's the best for you."

The girl looked at him from the couch.

"…I will stay."

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Author's notes: Review please! ^O^


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